Cedar Point to launch Luminosity nighttime spectacular this summer

Luminosity nighttime spectacular at Cedar Point

Cedar Point

Cedar Point

Brady MacDonaldLos Angeles Times Staff Writer

Cedar Point plans to turn the Ohio theme park's Million Dollar Midway into the $6-million Luminosity nighttime spectacular complete with lights, lasers and fireworks tied to a stage performance with DJs, dancers and drummers.

Debuting on June 8, the 40-minute Luminosity: Ignite the Night stage show will be followed by a pyrotechnics finale that leads into a DJ street party designed to turn the midway into an enormous dance floor.

Luminosity appears to be modeled after the surprise success of ElecTRONica, a Tron-themed nightly dance party that turned a dead zone at Disney California Adventure into a teeming, pulsating, alcohol-infused, all-ages nightclub.

Cedar Point hopes Luminosity encourages visitors to stay later and spend more at the 142-year-old theme park, leaving exhausted but upbeat.

Starting around 9 p.m. each night, Luminosity will feature 25 dancers, three drummers, two circus performers and a disc jockey paired with singers performing live to a recorded backing track.

Produced by RWS and Associates, Luminosity replaces the American Portrait and Hot Summer Lights nighttime shows that employed a 3,600-square-foot video projection screen that has since been removed from the midway.

Former Disneyland president and new Cedar Fair CEO Matt Ouimet has said that if Luminosity proves successful at Cedar Point he plans to expand the show to other properties in the theme park chain, which include Knott's Berry Farm (California), Canada's Wonderland (Ontario), Kings Island(Ohio), Kings Dominion (Virginia), Canada's Wonderland (Ontario), Carowinds (North Carolina), Dorney Park (Pennsylvania), Valleyfair (Minnesota), Worlds of Fun (Missiouri), California's Great America and Michigan's Adventure.

The addition of Luminosity will also bring new lighting packages to the Millennium Force roller coaster, the Power Tower drop tower and the Giant Wheel Ferris wheel similar to the LED-lighting featured on the Windseeker swing tower.

Cedar Point also plans to trim the architectural details of the buildings along the Million Dollar Midway with LED lights. Glowing table umbrellas, illuminated walkways and Peanuts character image projections will add to the light-up-the-night atmosphere.

Surrounded by 25-foot-tall projection screens, the 75-foot-long Luminosity stage on the Iron Dragon Midway will require the relocation of the suspended coaster's queue, transforming the area into the newly dubbed Celebration Plaza. Iron Dragon and the nearby Wildcat coaster will close during portions of Luminosity.

The new stage will be used for a Peanuts show during the day while Cedar Point plans to create an alternate version of Luminosity for its Halloweekends events in October.